AsianScientist (Sep. 28, 2016) – Medications prescribed to prevent heart attacks such as statins and aspirin are also associated with reduced heart attack severity, according to research published in PLOS ONE.
Cardioprotective medications such as aspirin, statins and beta-blockers are prescribed to patients who have high risk of a heart attack because they reduce the chance of a first or repeat event, according to first author Dr. Li Min, a researcher in Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
“Until now, it was not known whether these drugs provided any benefit to patients who develop a heart attack despite taking the medication,” Li said.
The latest observational study, with a population size of nearly 15,000 patients, assessed the relationship between prior use of preventive medications—including aspirin, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and receptor blockers, statins and beta-blockers—and in-hospital outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) such as heart attacks.
Among the patients, around 7,500 had a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and were included in the study with a repeat ACS event, while the remainder had no history of CVD and entered the study with a first ACS event. Prior use of each medication was significantly associated with less severity of disease and less arrhythmia after adjusting for multiple confounding factors. Many of the associations became non-significant after further adjusting for disease severity at presentation. The findings were similar in those with or without a history of CVD.
“We know that many heart attack patients stop taking their preventive medications. We need to do more to encourage adherence, and to help patients adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors,” said Professor Michel Komajda, course director of the European Society of Cardiology program in China.
The article can be found at: Li et al. (2016) Impact of Prior Use of Four Preventive Medications on Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized for Acute Coronary Syndrome–Results from CPACS-2 Study.
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Source: European Society of Cardiology; Photo: Pixabay.
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